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How to measure pressure?

I'm planning to take a look at my home HVAC system myself, as I don't think it's performing too well. I'm fairly mechanically inclined, so nothing should go wrong.

What I'm looking for is advice how to measure pressure at the service ports. Is there a single pressure gauge that I can buy? Or do they only come as manifold gauge sets? I don't think I'll be doing any charging myself, but who knows what the future brings

Are all manifold gauge sets more or less equal if they will be seeing light duty? What's the difference between a $30 set and $150? Durability? Accuracy?

You will need a manifold. More importantly will you have any idea what the guage is telling you? Before you even look at the guage you need a psychometer, Superheat,Subcooling card, and a digital thermometer. If you don't know what those are for hire someone who does. Honestly I have seen more homeowners do damage than good. Outside of that, grab the suction line if it's beercan cold then the unit is working and has refrigerant. (maybe not perfectly)

Yes, I understand the concepts of refrigeration quite well, I'm wondering about the real world things, that don't come from reading. Like what makes a $150 gauge set better than a $30 one. Will the cheap Chinese stuff seal poorly? Will it be off by 10% on the readings? Stuff like that.